(Portions of the technical material contained in this section may not be prior art.)
Packaging photonic devices requires materials and designs that take account of the performance of the photonic device under a variety of environmental conditions. Most of these devices have optical inputs and or optical outputs coupled to waveguides in the device. This requires optical alignment tolerances that vary depending on the use environment. Controlling the effects of thermal expansion is typically a main consideration. However, some devices are provided with hermetic housings for protection against changing ambients. These and other factors have influenced photonic device packaging in the direction of complex and expensive packages. Electro-optic photonic devices add another level of complexity.
A common package for an electro-optic device is a metal container. Similar package approaches use ceramic housings. In both cases the electro-optic device is completely contained, i.e. surrounded, by package material.
Some electro-optic device packages tend to be over-engineered for their intended purpose. There is an advantage in recognizing when electro-optic device packages can be simplified without compromising performance for a given application. Simplifying photonic packages may lead directly to significant cost reductions.